1966 CADILLAC Eldorado 7.7

Vehicle Overview

The Eldorado’s eighth-generation was the first built on a front-wheel-drive platform, but it still was a personal luxury coupe benchmark.

Back in the late ’60s, when some Americans were falling for the new muscle-car era, others were more concerned about image and luxury. For them, Cadillac made the Eldorado, a car that could smoke the front tires but still be able to float on the road like on a magic carpet.

Cadillac installed several distinct features for the Eldorado, when compared to its siblings, named the Oldsmobile Toronado or the Buick Riviera. In the grille’s hide-away headlights, the low-mounted side lamps on the front fenders, and the wide 9″ tires made a difference. The car’s lines were long and ample, but with a twist behind the doors with elevated quarter panels that ended into sharp fins at the car’s back with the vertically mounted taillights.

The luxurious interior was fitted with two power front seats and a bench in the back. Cadillac installed an instrument cluster with the dials at the upper side and a line of buttons and switches on the lower side. The driver from his door panel could have controlled the four power-windows. Strangely, the air-conditioning and the tilt-steering wheel were on the options list and were not fitted as standard.

Under the hood, Cadillac installed a 7-liter (429 cu-in) V8 engine, which sent the power to the front wheels via a 3-speed automatic transmission. Later on, the engine was upgraded to a 7.7-liter in 1968 and to an 8.0-liter in 1970.